By Larry Nader, Larry Nader Photography & Art
Published December 13, 2022, for State 48 A2Z
Sitting literally on the border of Yuma, Arizona, and Winterhaven, California sits the St. Thomas Indian Mission which was constructed in 1922 as a replica of the Mission Puerto de Purisima Concepción which once resided on the site but was destroyed by an Indian uprising in 1855.
The Mission Puerto de Purisima Concepcion, one of many Spanish missions built along the Colorado River, was founded by Father Francisco Garces in October 1790. The settlement was not part of the California Mission and was administered as part of the Spanish missions in Arizona. These missions were created by Spain as part of their colonization efforts in the region.
As Spanish colonists came to the area, they started to seize the best lands for themselves, completely ignoring the rights of the Native Americans that resided here long before their arrival. In the process of their land seizures, they destroyed the Indian crops. In retaliation, the Quechan (Yuma) Indians and their allies attacked and destroyed the installation and the neighboring Mission San Pedro y San Pablo de Bicuñer over the three days from July 17 to 19, 1781.
Today the St. Thomas Indian Mission is an active Catholic church with regular weekend services. While the Mission itself is mainly in California, a check of the map shows that the state border divides the Mission with a very small portion of it being in Yuma.
Regretfully, there wasn’t a lot I was able to find about this mission and the Mission Puerto de Purisima Concepcion through online research, but the St Thomas Indian Mission features some beautiful architecture both inside and out and is well worth a stop to check out. We were not able to photograph much inside as services were in progress when we went there. Nonetheless, this is a beautiful, old-world-style building that needs to be on your list when you are traveling through the area.
That will wrap things up for this week. As always, thanks for reading, stay safe, and happy travels. Be sure to like and follow us on social media (links below), share our blog posts, and feel free to give us your feedback. We would love to hear from you. Peace!
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